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He joined The Queen's Lancashire Regiment in 1996 - a unit which later became 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment - and was attached in Afghanistan to the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment as a Warrior Sergeant in 7 Platoon, Corunna Company.

Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Wood, his Commanding Officer, also paid tribute to his former comrade.

Emotional: Soldiers from 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment place six framed photos of their colleagues killed in Afghanistan outside of Battlesbury Barracks in Wiltshire where they were all based

Fatal: The death of the soldiers took the number of UK troops who have died in Afghanistan since 2001 to 404

He said: 'Sgt Nigel Coupe was quite simply an outstanding soldier who epitomised all that a sergeant from The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment should be.

'Professional, courageous and utterly dedicated to his job, he was highly regarded by all who worked with him.'

The death of the six soldiers – the other five of them no older than 21 – took the number of UK troops who have died in Afghanistan since 2001 to 404.

The force of the explosion turned the Warrior upside down and blew off its gun turret.

Tragic: The Ministry of Defence has today
revealed the identities of the six soldiers killed in Afghanistan on
Tuesday. Pictured are Private Anthony Frampton, 20, left, and Corporal
Jake Hartley, 20, right

It has also been revealed that the youngest soldier to die in the Warrior was 'someone who never moaned about anything and who was always the first to volunteer'.

Rugby League fan Private Christopher Kershaw, from Bradford, had already told his company commander about his leadership ambitions despite only being 19.

Major Edward Colver added: 'He showed immediate promise and regularly briefed me on his ambition to be a Section Commander and desire to complete a Junior Non-Commissioned Officers Cadre as soon as possible.

Thoughtful: Private Anthony Frampton, 20, from Huddersfield, sent heartbreaking messages to his mother on Facebook telling her not to worry

Tragic: The six soldiers were killed when their Warrior armoured vehicle was struck by a Taliban bomb in March. Pictured are Army rescue teams recovering the vehicle

'This typified his approach to military life: outgoing and aspiring.'

The officer said: 'I got the feeling he would have stopped at nothing to get where he wanted to be.

'Never shy of doing the hard yards and always willing to take on extra responsibility, he quickly became a valuable member of the team.'

The deaths led the Archbishop of York to say troops were doing 'a very important job' and that they should not be pulled out of the war early.

Dr John Sentamu said the men were fighting 'for the global village' and added: 'People should go back and remember Britain did not go in there because it decided.

'This was a unanimous vote and mandate that Al Qaeda had to be disrupted, that the Taliban were actually treating their women very badly and that you could create towards peace and the only way was actually to go in and disrupt Al Qaeda.

'I want to believe myself we've done a lot of disruption in the fact that Osama Bin Laden is no longer posing the same threat now.

'It seems to me that the British soldiers, who in my book are the best, were doing it not just for the United Kingdom, people must remember this - they were doing it for the global village. It was a decision of the United Nations that took them in there.'

Blast: The six soldiers were patrolling the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces in a Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle similar to this one

Grim task: The group was on a mounted patrol on the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces when their vehicle was struck at 7pm last night. Troops are pictured recovering the vehicle

Two days after the blast, the British Defence Secretary today met troops from the same regiment.

Philip Hammond offered his condolences to soldiers from the 3rd Battalion as they prepared for deployment at Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

He told BBC News: 'Well obviously today is an opportunity for me to express directly to the men of 3 Yorks my condolences at the terrible events of earlier this week.

'But also to hear from them how they feel about the mission ahead of them, and crucially, how the families are holding up back home.

'What I got was a very strong and clear message that they are up for this, they know what the job is, they're well trained for it, they've got the kit, they're prepared and they're looking forward to getting on with the job and they're very confident in their skills and professionalism in what they're going to do.'

Asked if events like this week's attack gives him and the Prime Minister 'pause for thought' in sending troops to war, he said: 'Of course that's something we are looking at and considering all the time but we're very clear that what we're doing in Afghanistan is a mission with a purpose.

'The purpose is to protect the security of the United Kingdom and our citizens here at home.

Dangerous territory: Two Warrior vehicles were conducting a routine patrol on the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces when one of the vehicles was involved in an explosion northwest of Durai Junction

'It's a mission with a clear end date. Everybody knows what we've got to do, what the task is over the next two and a half years, and that the men who are going to do it are well prepared for it, very clear about what they're doing and very clear about why they're doing it.'

The soldiers from the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment were taking part in a training exercise involving hundreds of service personnel as they prepare for the next tour of duty in Afghanistan - Operation Herrick 16.

After speaking to the soldiers Mr Hammond added: 'Morale is clearly very good, obviously everybody is terribly upset about the tragic events that have occurred this week, but they are focused on the deployment.

'We've got a mission here to complete - we've set out to ensure Afghanistan can not again become a safe haven for international terrorism to launch attacks on our citizens or the citizens of our allies.

'The fact is that British casualties are sharply down - notwithstanding the terrible events of this week - successful attacks on British forces are sharply down, we are succeeding and what we need to do now is complete the mission, leave with our heads held high knowing that the job has been properly done.'

Mr Hammond was joined by the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards, who said he was humbled by the troops he had met and defended the army's equipment following the attack carried out by the Taliban.

'I've just been with the battalion and the commanding officer and there is no doubt in their mind that they are doing something that is really worthwhile and they want to do it properly.

'It's very humbling I have to say listening and talking to them you'd expect them, as they are, to be thinking pretty seriously about what they are about to confront but there is absolutely no loss of resolve or determination and I'm just feeling rather lucky that I have such people under my command.'

Asked if our troops have the right equipment for the job they face in Afghanistan General Richards said: 'I've been a soldier for a long time and I feel as much as they do about reassurance on that point.

'Every time I go to visit them, and I was out there myself in the period when things weren't so good, I get nothing but praise for the kit they've got today.

'Be quite clear that this IED - which we are pretty certain it was - was massive and even a main battle tank that had been struck in that way would have had a problem, so there are some things that you can and we do protect against, but there are some things that occasionally the enemy - in this case the Taliban - they hit lucky and they did on this occasion.'

Over the past month thousands of soldiers have been taking part in training across Salisbury Plain before this year's major deployment to Afghanistan this spring.

The lead formation of British troops to the war-torn country in April will be the 12th Mechanised Brigade, which is based at Bulford in Wiltshire but Operation Herrick 16 will draw in servicemen and women from all three services from across the country.